The Fintra National School closure has triggered a sharp warning from Donegal Deputy Pearse Doherty, who said the move should act as a wake-up call for Government. The school near Killybegs said it only has four students enrolled for next year, and it announced that it will move toward closure from the end of June 2026. The Fintra National School closure follows a campaign to boost numbers that produced only one conditional enrolment for the coming year.
Decision follows final review by the Board of Management
Fintra National School said its Board of Management met on Wednesday to review the situation facing the school., the Board said that after careful consideration and with deep regret, it will now liaise with school Patron Bishop Niall Coll regarding the closure of the school from the end of June 2026.
The school is in the Killybegs area and has been trying to secure its future in recent weeks. Despite those efforts, the enrolment figures left the Board with no clear path forward. The Fintra National School closure is now the central issue facing the community as it waits for the next steps in the process.
What Pearse Doherty said
Pearse Doherty said the possible Fintra National School closure must act as a wake-up call for Government. He said it would be the third rural school in Donegal to close in the past year, and he linked the situation to what he described as a clear and ongoing failure to support rural communities.
“The possible closure of Fintra National School must act as a wake-up call for government, ” Doherty said. “This would be the third rural school in Donegal to close in the past year, and it points to a clear and ongoing failure to support rural communities. ”
He added that closures do not happen overnight and said they result from years of neglect of rural areas and a growing imbalance between urban and rural Ireland. Doherty also said rural communities are being left behind on jobs, healthcare and critical infrastructure, which he said affects school numbers and creates a cycle where services are withdrawn because populations fall, and populations fall because services are withdrawn.
Doherty said his party is firmly opposed to closing rural schools and believes they should be supported to remain open rather than judged only on enrolment figures. He said he has submitted a Parliamentary Question to the Minister for Education asking her to urgently engage with the school community in Fintra in an effort to secure the future of the school.
Community concerns and limited enrolment
The key immediate fact is stark: only four students are enrolled for next year, and the school said only one conditional enrolment came in during the past week. That left the Board with a difficult decision after a campaign to drive enrolments did not deliver the level needed to stabilise the school’s future.
The school said the closure move comes after careful consideration and deep regret. Those words underline how quickly the Fintra National School closure has become a major concern for families and the wider area.
What happens next
The next stage now appears to run through the school Patron, Bishop Niall Coll, and through engagement with the Minister for Education, if that request is taken up. For now, the Fintra National School closure remains set against the end of June 2026, unless a further intervention changes the outlook.
